Sigma Tau Delta International Convention Observations (Hannah Clark)

Hannah Clark

            I love words. I love the infinite mutations of English’s 56 basic phonemes, companionable into innumerable words with numberless meanings and applications. Think of it: anything you feel, any state of being, object, action, or description you can think of is possible. Each word is a circular reflecting pool of meaning. You can use general words: broad strokes which can be applied to many things, like “good,” to express yourself. But these skirt the edge of meaning, leaving cloudy trails in the bank mud and not satisfying the spectrum of human understanding.

Sigma Tau Delta International Convention Observations (Tiffani Roelle)

Tiffani Roelle

New-Found Learning

The drive to Denver was early. We left at 5 a.m. sharp. Nikki won’t have it any other way. She also pled no stops during the five-hour drive. Luckily I rode in Nate’s car. We took a bathroom break in Sterling, CO. In the airport we sat around for 45 minutes before our plane boarded. It was better to be safe than sorry. We got through security in a jiffy. I felt tiresome yet excited about attending the convention in Oregon. As the plane descended to land, the view of alpine trees and mountain fronts along the Columbia River was astounding. 

Sigma Tau Delta International Convention Observations (Sarah Labor)

Sara Labor

 Immersed in Portland Culture

There is something about being constantly surrounded by a thousand people who are just as nerdy as I am.

The Sigma Tau Delta convention in Portland, Oregon, was possibly one of the best experiences that I have ever had. From the time we stepped off the airplane, to the time we sleepily climbed onto the bus at four in the morning, I had wonderful experience after wonderful experience.

Sigma Tau Delta International Convention Observations (Nate Cochran)

Nate Cochran

On the morning of Wednesday, March 20^th, 2013 I set out on an adventure with seven classmates to the great city of Portland. The purpose of this adventure was attendance at the Sigma Tau Delta International Convention. After a 6 hour drive, three hour flight, hour-long lightrail ride, and several hours of waiting in airports, we finally had arrived.

2013 Flash Fiction Winners (Scholastic Day)

Flash Fiction Writing Contest

2013 Scholastic Day at Chadron State College

Thirteen writers competed in our Flash Fiction Contest on April 5.  This exercise challenged aspiring writers to think on their feet and quickly create a short story that engages readers and shows off their imaginative, descriptive and compositional skills. Students were given the following constraints:

• 2 hour time limit
• 1000 words or less
• Submission had to be a single work of original fiction composed from the participant’s own imagination during the exam period

Finally, the writers were provided a prompt that all of the stories had to follow:

Begin a story with this line:

The phone vibrated. I (or character’s name) recognized the name, breathed deeply,  and took a long pause before opening the text message.

The Results:

Each story was scored by a team of judges from the Department of English and Humanities and members of Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society. The criteria for judgment were outlined in a rubric that was distributed with the exam. The papers were then ranked by the combined scores from all judges. The top entries then underwent one more round of evaluation for the final ranking.

The judges were impressed with the uniform creativity and talent illustrated in all of the submissions, especially given the time and length limits. There were many submissions that could easily be revised and shaped into fully-formed stories worthy of wide readership in some form. We want to thank ALL of the participants for sharing their talents with us.

Here are the final results:

(note that the final drafts have been lightly edited to correct obvious surface errors):

Sigma Tau Delta International Convention: What I Experienced

Wonderful blog entry from one of our students, Jacob Smiley, who recently attended the Sigma Tau Delta International Convention in Portland. Chadron State College and our Department of English and Humanities helped to sponsor/support elements of this exciting trip.

Sigma Tau Delta International Convention: What I Experienced.

Sigma Tau Delta Application

For a PDF version of this membership form to

download and print click here:  stdcsc application